But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has jailed thousands of people who he has called his enemies in the wake of a 2016 coup attempt against him, and human rights groups accuse him of using a state of emergency declared after the coup attempt to quash decades-long Kurdish dissent and political opposition.

An unnamed Serbian police official told Reuters on December 26 that Serbian courts had ruled that Turkey met all preconditions for the extradition of Ayaz, and the Justice Ministry acted accordingly by extraditing him.

“The motion by the UN came after” the court rulings, this official said.

Officials at Serbia’s Justice Ministry were not immediately available for comment.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who hosted Erdogan on a visit to Belgrade in October, has been seeking to boost economic ties with Turkey.